The idea that Canadian-born Ted Cruz, the “very junior senator from Texas,” could have his eye on the White House after mere months in national office is pretty astounding, but sources say his interest in the office is “undeniable.” So is it any coincidence that Cruz’ tweet this afternoon borrows, um, rather liberally from Ronald Reagan’s famous “A Time for Choosing” speech, which some say set Reagan on his trajectory to the White House?

Not too long ago two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, “We don’t know how lucky we are.” And the Cuban stopped and said, “How lucky you are! I had someplace to escape to.” In that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.